U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,082 (Alber) discloses a motorized wheel for wheelchairs and the like, in which the wheel is designed to plug into a special socket on the wheelchair, and a hub against which the motor reacts is fixed relative to the frame by an arm, radially displaced from the axis of the hub, which fixes the hub to the frame of the chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,520 (Chen) discloses a wheelchair with motorized wheels, in which the wheel hubs are permanently secured to the frame of the chair, and the wheels are removable from the hubs.
Both of these arrangements permit the wheels of a wheelchair or other vehicle to be removed when the vehicle is folded or otherwise prepared for transportation, but, in each case, the vehicle must be specially adapted for this purpose, and the wheels are not directly applicable to a wheelchair or other vehicle of which the hub's driving wheels are secured in tubular journals incorporated in the frame of the vehicles. Moreover, more effective and efficient control of the motors in the prior art arrangements in order to minimize electricity consumption and provide optimum assistance to a user or driver of the vehicle would be desirable. It is also important that a motorized wheel designed for application to vehicles originally designed for human propulsion does not overstress the frame of the vehicle.